Loved You Once But He's My Forever (Chloe) novel Chapter 25

My mom, clearly annoyed, lowered her voice and said, "Mom, we've got so many guests here tonight. We can't let everyone wait just because of her. The weather is terrible, and flights could be delayed. We can save a piece of cake for her."

"Grandma, who knows if Chloe even planned on returning?" Ethan said.

Everyone tried to convince Grandma to cut the cake, ignoring how her eyes grew dimmer.

"Chloe promised me she'd be here on time. She never breaks a promise. Something must have happened. I couldn't reach her phone. Have any of you tried looking for her in Cloudville?"

My parents exchanged an awkward glance.

They hadn't considered looking for me since I'd always returned alone after letting off some steam.

"She disappears on her own terms. If we go looking for her every time, it'll just encourage this behavior. What if every time she's upset, she turns off her phone and disappears? Where are we supposed to look for her?"

"Exactly! She's an adult now. She's got two working legs. She'll come back when she's done having fun."

Grandma felt her heart sink as she listened to their indifferent words.

Over the years, I rarely complained to her directly. She had to piece things together based on what she had overheard from the servants or others.

Seeing how my family treated me, she finally understood just how miserable my life had become.

"You ungrateful lot! She's your daughter, your sister, and she's been missing for days! And not one of you cares enough to ... " Grandma's voice broke off, her chest heaving angrily.

"Grandma, I found out where Chloe is!" Anna shouted, waving her phone and immediately grabbing everyone's attention.

"Where?" Grandma stopped her scolding and quickly grabbed Anna's phone.

It showed a video from a nightclub. Amidst flashing lights, a woman who looked like me was dancing closely with a man.

The woman was dressed provocatively, and her dancing was anything but subtle.

The lighting was dim, and the side angle made it hard to tell for sure. But everyone immediately jumped to that conclusion once Anna said it was me.

"I just saw it on a friend's social media. Chloe is having a blast at some bar. She probably forgot all about Grandma's birthday by now."

"No wonder she prepared her gift in advance. She never planned to come back!"

Grandma, whose eyesight wasn't excellent, didn't believe it was me. She asked a servant to fetch her reading glasses for a closer look.

Luke's face was cold as ice. He watched the video three times, his eyes fixed on the woman's pale chest where a small black mole was visible—more recognizable than her face.

Grandma squinted through her glasses. "I don't think that's Chloe. The lighting is so bad, it could be anyone."

"Grandma, don't defend Chloe. She's always been like this—constantly flirting with men. I said nothing before because I didn't want to upset Luke. This time, she took the excuse of his runaway bride stunt to leave. Who knows if it's revenge or if she already had a lover?"

"You brat! How dare you slander Chloe based on one video ... "

Grandma tried to defend me, but Luke, who hadn't said a word, coldly interrupted, "It's Chloe. I'm sure of it."

The room erupted into shocked murmurs.

He was my husband, and his confirmation sealed the verdict.

"I never imagined there was such a hidden story behind Mr. Bolton's decision to run away from the marriage."

"See? I told you! If Chloe was innocent, why would she run away? She's probably been sneaking around with that guy for a while."

"Poor Mr. Bolton."

"Chloe has no sense of shame, still claiming to be childhood sweethearts. For all we know, she could have been fooling around for ages."

Listening to all the malicious gossip, I thought I'd grown numb to these insults from this pair of scumbags, but I felt my blood boil.

Anna had already stolen my art. Now, she was dragging my name through the mud even after my death, slandering me so that I'd be hated by all.

She's genuinely ruthless!